PARIS (November 4, 2004) – Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) announced today that Spyro A Hero's TailTM, the next installment in the top video game franchise, has shipped to retail stores nationwide. The popular purple dragon is back in his greatest adventure ever for the PlayStationÃ‚Â®2 computer entertainment system, the XboxÃ‚Â® video game system from Microsoft and Nintendo GameCubeTM. Scripted by Emmy Award-winning writer J. Stewart Burns, the new 3D action platformer features five fully-playable characters and brand-new Spyro breath attacks, power-ups and moves.

"Spyro has been a favorite character and strong leader in the platform genre since its 1998 debut," said Philip W. O'Neil, President of North America, VU Games. "Spyro A Hero's Tail continues the franchise's tradition by immersing players into a deep storyline, more diverse, lush environments and a line-up of engaging characters."

In Spyro A Hero's Tail, Spyro must save the Dragon Realms from the Evil Red Dragon who has planted light-sapping Dark Gems all over the Dragon Realms in an attempt to capture and control the world. With the help of his allies, Spyro must seek out and destroy all of the Dark Gems to return the lands back to normal and to save the Dragon Realms from the evil dragon's tyrannical control.

Players guide the fiery purple dragon across dark, mysterious lands which change and morph from evil to good during gameplay -- affecting enemies, environments, music, lighting, objects, and more. In addition to playing as the heroic leader Spyro, gamers will also have the opportunity to play as weapons master Hunter the Cheetah, dive-bombing penguin Sgt. Byrd, loyal sidekick Sparx the Dragonfly or the all-new burrowing, climbing Blink the Mole. Equipped with mighty new abilities including the Wall Kick, Tail Swing and Ledge Grab, and brand-new power-ups such as the supercharged Horn Dive, explosive Brimstone Bombs and deadly Ice Shards, Spyro also battles his enemies with powerful breath attacks – Fire, Ice, Electricity and the all-new Water.

Spyro A Hero's Tail is currently available on PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. The game was developed by UK-based Eurocom Entertainment Software. For more information, customers can visit http://herostail.spyrothedragon.com/.

About Xbox
Xbox (http://www.xbox.com) is the video game system from Microsoft that brings people together for the most exhilarating game and entertainment experiences. Xbox delivers an expansive collection of breakthrough games, powerful hardware and the unified Xbox Live online service. The new tagline, "it's good to play together," captures the spirit of Xbox as the social hub of the new digital entertainment lifestyle. Xbox is now available in North America, Asia, Europe and Australia.

About Eurocom Entertainment Software
Founded in October 1988 by current owners Ian Sneap, Mat Sneap, Tim Rogers, Neil Baldwin and Hugh Binns, their first game "Magician", was published in 1990 for the 8-bit NES console. Now in their 16th year, they have steadily expanded their development to cover all the major consoles and handhelds, and have developed over 60 titles in that time, including some of the best-selling games in the industry. Eurocom has a development group of 200 people based in their Derby, England studio, working on multiple projects across PC, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo platforms.

About Vivendi Universal Games
Headquartered in Los Angeles, VU Games is a leading global developer, publisher and distributor of multi-platform interactive entertainment. Its development studios and publishing labels include Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, Fox Interactive and Massive Entertainment. VU Games' library of over 700 titles features properties such as WarcraftÃ‚Â®, StarCraftÃ‚Â®, DiabloÃ‚Â® and World of WarcraftÃ‚Â® from Blizzard EntertainmentÃ‚Â®; Crash BandicootÃ‚Â®, Spyro The DragonTM, Empire EarthÃ‚Â®, Leisure Suit LarryTM, Ground ControlÃ‚Â® and TribesÃ‚Â®.